Learn how to obtain the Thorns of Agony Charm in Hollow Knight!
Team Cherry’s Metroidvania action-adventure game, Hollow Knight, follows the journey of a nameless warrior called the Knight as he travels through Hallownest, which is now a kingdom in ruins because of a supernatural disease. As the Knight journeys through Hallownest, he can unlock new abilities, spells, and charms that will help him traverse through different areas of Hallownest and defeat enemies.
In the game, special items give the Knight different abilities and bonuses called Charms. To equip or unequip these Charms, the Knight must sit on a Bench, and the Knight must have enough unused Notches to provide them. In this guide, we will learn about the Thorns of Agony charm.
One of the 45 Charms in the game is the Thorns of Agony Charm, which requires and takes up only one Charm Notch. This charm is useful when the Knight is fighting many enemies simultaneously, like in the Colosseum of Fools With the Thorns of Agony charm; the Knight can now immediately deal damage after the Knight takes damage!
When equipped, the Thorns of Agony charm sprouts thorny vines around the Knight, which can damage nearby enemies whenever the Knight takes damage. The damage dealt by the effect of the charm is equal to the base damage output of the Knight’s Nail. It is worth noting, however, that the Knight does not gain Soul when dealing damage using the effect of the Thorns of Agony charm.
Location
The Thorns of Agony charm can be found inside a maze of thorns near the middle of Greenpath.
The Knight will encounter many enemies in Greenpath. Still, the Knight will encounter the following enemies on the way to the Thorns of Agony charm: Squits, Volatile Mosskins, Fool eaters, Mosscreeps, a Moss Charger, and Charged Lumaflies.
Before the Knight can find the Thorns of Agony charm, it is recommended that the Knight has the Mothwing Cloak ability, which allows the Knight to dash forward. Obtaining the Thorns of Agony charm will be no challenge with this ability.
To find the Thorns of Agony charm in Greenpath, this is what the Knight must do:
- Starting from the Bench in the Greenpath Stagway Station, head to the right and exit the room; head to the right and down to the bottom of the room where the Knight will encounter a couple of Squits, Volatile Mosskins, Fool Eaters, Mosscreeps on the way down.
- Near the bottom of the room, you will see that part of the path will be closed. To open it, hit the lever on the left side, where a Fool Eater will appear once the Knight stands on the lever. After that, drop down and take the exit at the bottom left of the room.
- Next, upon dropping into the next room, drop down on the gap, head to the right, continue, and take the exit on the rightmost part of the room.
- Then, continue heading to the right, where the Knight will encounter a Moss Charger and a Mosscreep, then take the next exit that leads upwards.
- After that, jump up the platforms on the left, head up the next level platform just above the entrance to the room where the Knight will encounter a Volatile Mosskin, and take the exit on the left.
- Next, the Knight arrives in the maze of thorns filled with Charged Lumaflies. From the entrance to the room, jump across the gap, wait for the Charge Lumaflies to be inactive, then quickly head to the right.
- Then, jump across the gap again, where two big rocks will be filled with thorns, and the ceiling of the path is also filled with thorns. To cross this, jump then quickly use the Mothwing Cloak ability to dash through the narrow path between the thorns, land in between the two big rocks of thorns, jump, then quickly use the Mothwing Cloak ability to dash through the narrow path of the second big rock of thorns.
- After that, jump up the platform, and on the right, you will see that the floor on the gap below the platform that the Knight is on is filled with thorns, and on the narrow path between them is Charge Lumaflies. To cross this, wait for the Charged Lumaflies to be inactive, quickly drop down the gap, and then, before reaching the floor filled with thorns, quickly use the Mothwing Cloak ability to dash through the narrow path with the inactive Charge Lumaflies and land on the part without the thorns.
- Next, wait for the Charged Lumaflies on the right after the big rock filled with thorns to be inactive, quickly jump and use the Mothwing Cloak ability to dash through the narrow path between the thorns, then land after the Charged Lumaflies.
- Finally, head to the right, where you will find something glowing on top of a platform in the middle of a wall of thorns. Jump towards that platform, inspect the glowing thing, and the Knight has now obtained the Thorns of Agony charm!
To exit this room easily, strike the rope holding up a platform just after the last Charged Lumaflies drop the platform down, then follow that path to the left and back to the room’s entrance.
Other Charms go well with the Thorns of Agony charm, specifically the Stalwart Shell charm, which increases the Knight’s invincibility frames and decreases the recoil after the Knight is hit, so pairing it with the Thorns of Agony charm means that the time needed for the thorns to be activated after being hit will be decreased, the Baldur Shell charm, which will spawn a shell around the Knight that can block up to four hits whenever the Knight is using Focus and, if equipped alongside the Thorns of Agony charm, the thorns will still activate even if the Knight has not taken any damage because of the protective shell, and the Carefree Melody charm, which gives the Knight a chance to block damage whenever the Knight is hit and, if equipped with the Thorns of Agony charm, the thorns will still activate even if the Carefree Melody charm blocked the enemy’s attack.
Now that the Knight has the Thorns of Agony charm, the Knight can equip it while sitting down on a bench, and the Knight can immediately deal damage on enemies after the Knight has taken damage!
